The Christmas Tree Disaster
by Lilly flower forever
Summary: Christmas trees can be dangerous things, as Marinette finds out one afternoon after designing in the park. It's a good thing Adrien is there to help her set it back up. Day six of the ML Christmas Countdown


The Christmas Tree Disaster

 **Hey again! Welcome to day six of my Christmas Countdown. I've made it everyday so far and I haven't gone insane... yet. Good thing it is the holidays and I don't have to think about assignments right now. :)**

 **I hope you enjoy this bit of Adrienette fluff. :)**

 **Prompt: Christmas tree**

 **...**

Marinette was sitting on a bench at the park with her sketchbook drawing some Christmas themed designs. She found that being out in the crisp fresh air helped to inspire her, even if it was a bit chilly. A large Christmas tree was set up next to the bench she was on, close enough for her to see the patterns on the baubles. Delicate swirls and sparkly glitter designs decorated her pages as she drew inspiration from the tree beside her and the baubles that decorated it. Several of her designs had patterns that came directly from a bauble. She was pleased with it all. It was very Christmassy and she couldn't wait to get start making some of them. Perhaps she'd make something for Alya.

Marinette glanced up at the sky. It was nearing on dusk by then. She decided she stay a little bit longer and add a few more details to her designs before going back home. Her parents had said they didn't need her back until dinner time. They'd most likely be busy in the bakery still, finishing up the day. The stayed open longer nearing Christmas. More people wanted to come in and buy treats for their various Christmas parties.

She hummed softly to herself as her pencil flew across the paper. It was so easy to lose track of time when she was in designing mode. She didn't even notice when Adrien approached her, without his bodyguard for once. "Hey Marinette." He caught sight of her sketchbook. "Wow your designs look really good."

She looked up. Upon seeing him, she shrieked and flung herself away... straight into the Christmas tree. For one glorious moment, Marinette thought nothing would happen except a bruise on her head. It was a large tree, after all, and it wouldn't knock over very easily. But then it toppled over and she watched in horror as it tumbled to the ground. "Oh no." She gasped.

Adrien held out his hand to help her up. He had the most apologetic look on his face that she had ever seen. "I'm so sorry, Marinette. I didn't mean to startle you. I should've realised you were too busy designing. I'm sorry." He pulled her to her feet.

Her mouth opened and closed several times, only able to make unintelligible sounds for a moment. Adrien looked so miserable that he had scared her like that. "No, no i- it's alright!" She finally managed to get out.

He gave the fallen tree a mournful stare before turning back to Marinette. "Are you hurt?" He asked in concern.

"N- no, not much. Just a little bump. It's fine. I'm used to falling into things." She was quick to assure him. Then she glanced at the Christmas tree and grimaced. "Do you- do you think we'll get in trouble for knocking it over?" She asked timidly.

It certainly wasn't going to go unnoticed. It was not a small tree so now that it was no longer standing upright, it took up quite a lot of room. Most of the decorations on it had fallen off or been displaced. Adrien nodded. "Probably..."

Marinette bit her lip in worry and turned to Adrien. "Should we try put it back in its place again?"

He looked over at the tree. "Yes. We'll be able to put it up again if we do it together."

The two of them stepped over to the fallen tree and carefully started pulling it upright. It was heavier than it looked but they were somehow able to get it standing up again, mostly because they were both stronger from fighting akumas all the time. It wasn't quite straight; it looked a little bit wonky, but they figured it would be fine. Marinette eyed all the baubles on the ground. "We'll have to get these back on where they came from." She said. "But I don't think either of us are tall enough."

Adrien stared at the tree thoughtfully. Marinette was right. It was too tall for them to be able to reach the uppermost branches, but they couldn't just have all the decorations down the bottom of the tree and have only a few sparse ones up the top. It wouldn't look right. And no one had conveniently left a ladder lying around anywhere.

If he was Chat Noir, he'd probably be able to get up to the top of the tree, but there was no way he would be able to explain that to Marinette and it wouldn't be fair on her if he ran off and left her.

As he thought about it, an idea came to him. "What if you stood on my shoulders?" He suggested. "Do you think we'd be able to reach then?"

Her face had gone curiously pink but she shrugged. "We could try. I don't see any other way."

"It might work best if I crouch down and you get on my shoulders and I'll pass you up the decorations." He said.

She nodded and they set the plan into action. He crouched down and waited until she was securely sitting on his shoulders before standing up. Then he began handing decorations up to her and moving around the tree as she hung them up where they were supposed to go. Pretty soon the tree was back to how it was supposed to be, if a little bit messier. Adrien carefully set Marinette down again and grinned at her. "We did it!" He glanced towards the tree. "It looks good as new."

He looked so happy and proud to have been able to help her fix it that Marinette couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow at school, Marinette." He held out his hand for a fist bump without realising it.

Marinette blinked in surprise at his fist then slowly reached out her own hand to meet his. It felt awfully familiar somehow. She was almost tempted to say her customary "pound it!" like she did with Chat Noir at the end of every battle. Instead, she settled for a smile towards him and echoing, "See you tomorrow, Adrien."

He waved to her, lips spreading into a content grin, and left, picking up her dropped sketchbook and passing it back to her on the way. "Tikki." She sighed dreamily once he had gone. "I just got to spend time with Adrien... I sat on his shoulders." She murmured, almost in a daze.

Tikki cheered as she flew out of her purse. "That's great, Marinette! And you barely stammered at all!"'

Marinette gave her kwami a fond smile. "I'm so glad the Christmas tree fell over."

 **...**

 **So guys what other pairings would you like to see in this countdown? There will definitely be more of the love square and djwifi, but what other pairings would you like in this? Let me know!**

 **Christmas countdown question: What's your favourite Christmas memory? Mine's when I was probably about seven and we had a big family Christmas and everyone came to our house and I played with my dolls in my 'dollhouse' which was just some shelves I had cleared out then we went swimming in our pool because in Australia our Christmases are in summer and my cousin and I pretended to be mermaids and we could go to special places and have our tails change colour. I don't know why but that's the Christmas memory that sticks in my mind the most. :) What's yours?**


End file.
